Benazir will continue to face risks, predicts WSJ

Bhutto’s homecoming has been filled with difficulties. A key question is whether her political pact with President Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 military coup, will pan out, the WSJ said.

The agreement was designed to allow both leaders to guide the country from military rule to civilian government. But according to WSJ, Bhutto is facing internal dissent over an arrangement, backed by the US, the paper claimed.

Many senior PPP members believe the deal betrays the party’s long history of opposing military rule in Pakistan.

While the power-sharing deal with Musharraf has eliminated the corruption charges against Bhutto, making the way for her return, it might also alienate the voters, the WSJ quoted some opponents as suggesting.

Bhutto, who had previously served two terms as premier and is, perhaps, still Pakistan’s most powerful civilian politician, might find a country radically different from the one she left to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.

After eight years under Musharraf’s rule, Pakistani society is more politically polarised than ever. Secular opponents are demanding a return to full-fledged civilian rule, while Islamist militants with links to al Qaeda and the Taliban hold sway along the country’s northwest frontier and have launched increasingly bold attacks against Pakistan’s military.

“A deal with Bhutto would allow an embattled Musharraf to expand his support base,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political commentator.

Although Musharraf easily won re-election as President by an electoral college of lawmakers on October 6, he is still awaiting confirmation of his victory by the Supreme Court, which must rule on whether he was legally eligible to be a presidential candidate while still holding his military post.

Musharraf has pledged to resign from the military as part of his deal with Bhutto, but has yet to do so, the paper concluded. (ANI)